___
Luke and Lorelai drive Rory to her dorm at Yale. The drive is quiet; the absence of Jess is still strange, and the spot in the Jeep where it seems like he should be sitting is instead piled with Rory's boxes and bags.
After they've brought the last of Rory's things up to her dorm room, Lorelai says "Ok, kiddo, this is it. Be good. You're going to do great."
"Ok, Mom. Call me when you get back to Stars Hollow. Or better yet, email me. I set up that computer for you so that it's going to be virtually impossible for you to mess it up, and I already put my new email address at school in the address book. So you've got no excuse to avoid the evils of technology."
"But it's so much easier to just pick up the phone," protests Lorelai, and Luke gets the feeling she and Rory have had this argument before.
"It's long distance," Rory says.
Lorelai sighs. "I will email you."
"Good." Rory smiles and hugs her mother.
They separate, and Lorelai says, "Well, I'm going to see how scary the dorm bathrooms are. I'll be back in a minute and then Luke can try to drag me away to the car while I cling to your ankles and wail."
"I thought we agreed there would be no wailing," says Rory, frowning.
"I'm sorry, but do you have anything in writing?" asks Lorelai, and then skitters out of the room before Rory can protest any further.
Luke realizes that Lorelai is giving them a moment alone, so he pulls out an envelope and hands it to Rory. Inside it are two hundred-dollar bills.
She opens it and grins. "Thanks, Luke! You didn't have to do this, you already got me a graduation present."
"It's just a little extra money for pizza delivery on those late studying nights," he says. Luke is still sketchy on the details of how Rory's education is being paid for; he assumes it's mostly being covered by Lorelai's family or scholarships. But he knows that the little miscellaneous expenses add up fast, and figures that Lorelai will be covering a lot of them rather than let her parents do it. So he's already decided to send a couple of hundred dollars to Rory whenever he can, just to help out. Not that he's told Lorelai this; he doesn't want her to think he's trying to encroach on her parenting territory.
And then Luke hugs Rory, a little awkwardly.
"You'll remember what we talked about?" asks Rory. "About Mom?"
"Of course," says Luke. "Don't worry, she'll be fine."
"I hope so."
"Hope what?" asks Lorelai, coming back into the room.
"Nothing," says Rory quickly. Then she takes a deep breath, exhales. "So..."
"So..." says Lorelai.
And mother and daughter gaze at each other, and Luke can see that tears are welling up in both of their eyes, so he says, "Uh, I'll be in the Jeep. You two take as long as you need. Bye, Rory."
"Bye, Luke," says Rory, her voice catching in her throat.
***
Lorelai catches up to Luke before he even makes it to the parking lot.
"Hey," he says. "You two all right?"
Lorelai sniffles a little tiny bit. "We stayed up talking all night last night. We agreed there would be no hysterics. I think we pulled it off, unless Rory comes running back out here shrieking like the first time I tried to drop her off at pre-school." She laughs a little. "Although that was only because one of the boys tried to put a lizard in her hair."
"The dorm seemed fairly reptile-free," says Luke.
"Maybe her roommate will have a pet iguana," says Lorelai wistfully.
The drive home is again quiet, and Luke is internally gearing himself up for a Lorelai meltdown. But she just stares out the window, and since they've gotten to the point where they can achieve a comfortable silence these days, he just holds her hand and drives.
When they pull up at Lorelai's house, Luke's not too sure what to do. He doesn't want to make any assumptions. But Lorelai just cuts right to the chase and looks at him and says, "You'll stay tonight, right?"
Luke reaches over and squeezes her hand. "Of course," he says.
***
So Luke makes a quick run to the market and then cooks them dinner in Lorelai's bewildering kitchen, while Lorelai takes a shower. He makes a mental note to buy a cast-iron skillet and some decent utensils from the restaurant supply company to leave here.
He has to actually wipe dust off the top of the stove before he lights the burner.
He makes her two cheeseburgers, just the way she likes them; medium, with extra cheddar cheese and - ugh - mayo. He makes himself a turkey burger, hoping Lorelai won't notice. On a whim he bought a box of brownie mix at the market, so he mixes those up while the burgers are cooking, and after much searching finds a suitable baking pan. Which also needs to be dusted off before use.
When the burgers are done, Luke slides the brownies into the oven and looks in vain for an oven timer. There isn't one, of course, so he has to fiddle with the microwave and use that as a timer instead.
In the living room, Lorelai is sitting in a fluffy bathrobe, scanning television channels. Luke hands her a plate with her cheeseburgers and a huge pile of ridiculous "gourmet" potato chips he bought at the market. Applewood barbecue and smoked cheddar flavored, the bag claimed, which Luke thinks is a lot of responsibility to put on a stupid potato chip.
Lorelai's eyes light up as she takes her plate. "Have I mentioned recently that you're the best boyfriend in the whole world?"
"I try," says Luke, and sits down next to her to eat his own burger.
They eat, and watch television, and Lorelai quickly becomes obsessed with the potato chips.
"You have to try one of these," says Lorelai. "They're the most amazing potato chips I've ever eaten."
He starts to protest that he's not into deep-fried snack foods, no matter how many different flavors of chemicals they've been soaked in, but he decides to be nice, given the circumstances, and lets her feed him one.
"Ok," he admits. "They're good. But you should see how much fat and sodium-"
"Hey!" Lorelai interrupts, looking at him suspiciously.
"What?" asks Luke, trying to casually shield the turkey burger from her view with his arm.
"Well, don't think I didn't notice that you're being a freak and eating ground turkey in my house, but that's not it." She sniffs. "I smell... baked goods. I smell chocolate."
"Yeah. It's a surprise."
"You mean that my oven even works?"
"That, too."
"I'm not sure how to react to the smell of food being cooked in this house." She smiles at him. "But if it involves chocolate, and more burgers exactly like this one, I could definitely get used to it."
"You know, I could teach you how to cook..."
Lorelai laughs and laughs.
***
After dinner, Luke cleans up the kitchen and takes the brownies out of the oven. Then he assembles a huge sundae for Lorelai: warm brownie, vanilla ice cream, Hershey's syrup, and lots of whipped cream.
When she sees it her face lights up again, and she says "Excuse me, but I have to go email Rory right now and tell her to leave home for college more often." She smiles up at him. "You really are the best."
Luke laughs. "It's no big deal. If I wasn't cooking for you here, I'd be cooking for you at the diner."
"Where's yours?" Lorelai asks.
"I'm just going to get a bowl of ice cream."
Lorelai looks at him. "Just vanilla ice cream? By itself."
"Come on, I ate your potato chips, what more do you want from me?"
"Sit."
Luke grins and shakes his head and sits down. Lorelai insists on sharing her sundae with him, won't even let him get up and get an extra spoon, just feeds him alternating bites.
***
Later, in bed, Lorelai sits up and takes off her t-shirt, and Luke gazes at her gleaming skin, as he always does, with just a touch of disbelief that he's actually gotten so damn lucky.
She slides back into the bed, melts up against him, and runs a palm over his chest meaningfully.
It's tough, but Luke manages to say "Lorelai... We don't have to..."
"Shhh," she says, "I don't want to think. I just want you. To make me not think." And then she sits up again, climbs on top of him, straddling him. Which pretty much removes any free will he had left. So he reaches up and cups a hand behind her neck and pulls her mouth down to his.
It's good. It always is, with Lorelai.
But afterwards they lapse back into silence; Lorelai falls asleep quickly, and Luke watches her sleep a while before he turns off the light.
***
Sometime in the middle of the night, Luke is awakened by a feeling of something being seriously not right. He automatically reaches over to Lorelai. Or where she should be. His palm finds nothing but empty bed. He sits up, panicked and adrenalized. Did someone break in and kidnap her? Did she do some crazy thing like get in the car and drive back to Yale?
But then he calms down, turns on the light, gets out of bed. Then he knows. He pulls on a pair of jeans, but doesn't stop for a t-shirt, just pads down the stairs and finds Lorelai where he expects her to be.
In Rory's room. Curled up in Rory's old bed, clutching a pillow. She's not making any noise, but Luke can see that she's shaking, sobbing silently.
He walks to the bed, sits down next to her. He rests a hand on her shoulder, doesn't say anything. She reaches up and clutches his forearm, and her hand is cold. So Luke lies down with her in the tiny bed, wraps her in his arms while she cries.
"Luke," she whispers after her sobbing has subsided a little. "They're both gone. They're really gone."
Luke sighs. He wishes he could remember how to cry, to let some of this out. But he can't, not really.
"I know, Lorelai," he says. "I know. But we'll be all right. We're both good at that."
***
Luke is making a fresh pot of coffee after the breakfast rush ends when he looks up and sees a familiar redhead walk into the diner.
Nicole.
As his heart starts pounding and making him feel a little panicky, he watches her approach the counter. She looks more than a little apprehensive herself.
"Hello, Luke," she says.
"Nicole. How are you?"
"Fine," she says, and Luke must look really panicked, because she laughs and says, "Don't worry, it's just business - it's my month again. Taylor had me write up an amended lease he'd like for you to look over."
"Oh, uh, sure." Luke laughs nervously. "Coffee?"
"That would be lovely," she says.
So he gets her her coffee, and they avoid each other's eyes as she explains the changes Taylor is requesting in the lease.
"I'll leave this copy with you, and you can call me if you have any questions," she says.
"Ok, thanks." Their eyes accidentally meet.
"Luke-" Nicole begins uncertainly.
"Yeah?"
"Do you mind if I ask - how are things going? With you and Lorelai?"
Luke has to suppress a smile, because things are going so well. Lorelai is adjusting to life without Rory in the house, and Luke spends most of his spare time at Lorelai's now. It's getting comfortable. They've even had Sookie and Jackson over for dinner a couple of times. Like a real couple. Sure, half of said couple is a crazy woman with a major caffeine addiction and a penchant for anthropomorphizing her food, but Luke wouldn't trade it for anything. And the sex, well, the sex is still amazing.
Of course, he's not going to tell Nicole any of this, so he just says, "Things are going fine."
But she sees right through him; she smiles knowingly and says, "I thought so. You look really good."
"Huh?" says Luke, a little taken aback.
Nicole laughs. "Calm down, I'm not hitting on you, I just meant you look, I don't know, happy. You look like you've been sleeping better."
"Hmm. Yeah. I guess I am. Happy, I mean." Luke feels instantly guilty for saying it. "Look, Nicole-"
But she laughs again, stands up and gathers up her files. "Just remember to invite me to the wedding," she says, and walks away, leaving Luke to stand there, utterly confused.
Wedding?
Women, thinks Luke, with a grudging admiration, Women and their damned female intuition.
***
That night, Luke closes up the diner and showers and heads to Lorelai's house, as usual.
But she's acting strange, a little standoffish, distant, and it causes Luke to have a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach. Is this the cooling-off period happening so soon? Is she getting bored with him already? Whenever Rachel got like this, it usually meant she would be looking up bus and plane schedules soon.
So he finally flat out asks her what's wrong, and she looks like she's almost embarrassed.
"This is stupid," she begins.
"Try me," Luke says.
"Well, all right. Um. I'm just a little freaked out that you didn't tell me Nicole was in the diner today."
Luke lets out a huge sigh, mostly of relief. It's not that she's getting bored with him. And Lorelai actually being jealous is kind of flattering.
"She's Taylor's lawyer," he says. "You know that. She was just dropping off some paperwork. I didn't know she would be there, she just showed up, gave me the papers, we chatted for about five minutes, and she left. I've told you before, there was never any great unrequited love story happening for either of us there."
Lorelai just looks at him, still looking insecure and doubtful. "But why didn't you tell me she was there? I mean, you must have known it would get back to me."
"Honestly, Lorelai, it didn't even occur to me. It was no big deal." He grins at her. "You're kinda cute when you're jealous, though." She keeps frowning at him, so he says, "Ok, you caught me. We had a quickie back in the storeroom."
Lorelai gasps and throws a pillow at him. "I knew it! You're a terrible, terrible person! You wouldn't even have a quickie with me back there, but you'll have one with Nicole?"
"She's a lawyer. She was persuasive."
And then Lorelai pounces on him. "I'll show you persuasive."
***
Rory comes home for Thanksgiving, and when she leaves again Luke half-expects another minor freakout from Lorelai.
But what actually happens, he never would have expected in a million years.
Luke and Lorelai are in her bed, and Luke is beginning the slow drift towards sleep, and thinking that it must be true what they say, about women hitting their sexual peak later in life.
They're in their usual, spooning sleep position, and he feels Lorelai stir a little in his arms.
"Move in," she says, out of nowhere.
Luke tenses a little, coming fully awake, eyes open. "What?"
"Move in," she repeats. "Here."
"But that would be living in sin," Luke jokes.
Lorelai shifts again. "So marry me," she says.
Whoa. Now Luke is really fully awake, and his eyes couldn't get any more open. Is she joking? She must be joking. Luke's heart starts racing, and his nervous system comes online with a big shot of adrenaline. He can't see her face because of the way they are lying and because of the darkness, so he really, truly can't tell if she's joking. Well, only one way to cope - more jokes.
"Isn't the man supposed to be the one to propose?" he asks, feeling like he's walking a minefield.
"I suppose," says Lorelai. "Were you ever going to?" Her voice is gentle, teasing, but there's something else there.
Luke desperately tries to figure out what this game is, and what the rules are. He's in over his head.
"I thought about it," he says, "But I didn't want to scare you into leaving town." He keeps his own voice in the same light, joking tone, gives her a little squeeze. Still, there's truth to it.
Lorelai is quiet for a moment, and then she says, softly, "I was running from Max. You're not Max. Everything's different."
What does that mean? She's gotten serious, changed the rules on him again.
He spends too long trying to think of what to say next, and Lorelai heaves a big sigh and says, "Nevermind. Sorry, I was just joking."
Like hell.
Luke sits up, turns on the little light on the nightstand. He sits on the edge of the bed. He hears Lorelai behind him, turning over to see what he's doing.
He's got an old cigar box he takes back and forth from his house to Lorelai's, depending on where he's sleeping. At night, he puts his watch and the little hematite stone Lorelai gave him in it. It's got a couple of other odds and ends in it; some foreign coins he's gotten at the diner, a seashell, some little scraps of paper with phone numbers. And it's got something else in it, too, as of about two weeks ago. Another, smaller, velvet box. He's started carrying it with him wherever he goes.
Just in case. In case the perfect moment strikes.
This is probably as perfect as it's going to get.
He pulls out the little velvet box, opens it. Looks at his mother's engagement ring, a simple gold band with a decent-sized diamond and a tiny sapphire on either side. His mother had blue eyes. He remembers her explaining to him, when he was a little kid, that his father picked this ring out because the sapphires reminded him of her eyes.
He stares at it a moment, takes a deep breath, and turns around.
He holds the open box out to Lorelai, who gasps, eyes huge. Like big blue sapphires.
"Yes," he says. "I was going to ask. I wasn't sure if you were ready. But now, I'm asking. Will you marry me?"
Lorelai is still staring at the ring. Luke is utterly terrified, but he forces himself to watch her reaction. Steels himself for rejection.
Time ratchets down to slow motion, and it's just Luke and Lorelai and the box and the ring between them, and Luke's pounding heart. And then, after what seems like an eternity, Lorelai smiles and reaches out and...
...takes the ring from him.
"Luke," she whispers. "It's beautiful."
"It was my mother's. Is that a yes? Because if not, you're going to have to give it back." He grins.
She takes the ring out of the velvet box and turns it around in her fingers. Then she hands it back to Luke, and his heart drops through his stomach, through the floor, and out into space somewhere.
But then she holds out a hand, and Luke sees that she's crying. "Yes," she says. "It was a yes. I will."
So he takes her hand, and slides the ring onto her ring finger.
It fits, perfectly.
Lorelai reaches out for him, and they embrace. Luke's heart has returned to his chest, and now feels in danger of bursting.
After a moment, she pulls back, frowning. "You said this was your mother's ring?"
"Yeah." He knew this question was coming.
"So why were you looking at engagement rings in the jewelry store? When you were with Nicole?"
And he's got the answer ready. "Because, after the first time I kissed you... Even though things were so bad for a while... I still knew, somehow, that only one person was supposed to get this ring. And it wasn't Nicole."
And Lorelai starts crying again, only she's laughing at the same time. Then she suddenly jumps up from the bed.
"Don't move," she says, sniffling. "I'll be right back!" And she leaves the room.
Oh boy. There's no telling what she's doing. She could be calling everyone she knows; she could, in fact, be leaving town in panic.
She could be retrieving a secret stash of bridal magazines, ready to pick out place settings and bridesmaid dresses. Luke shudders a little.
But she comes back bearing just a small writing tablet and a pen. She sits down next to Luke on the bed, writes something carefully, shows it to him. Written in slightly crooked but florid longhand, he sees:
Lorelai Victoria Danes.
***
A couple of weeks later, it's 7 p.m., two Fridays before Christmas. Luke is standing idly in the empty diner. He's already sent Caesar home. Figures everyone must be Christmas shopping.
The phone rings, and it's Lorelai. "Hey," she says. "I bet the diner's really dead right now."
"Actually, yeah, as a matter of fact."
"Well, why don't you close up early and come home?"
Home is sort of a misnomer; they've decided that Luke won't actually move in until after they are married. It's a silly, symbolic thing, but it makes a certain kind of sense. But what it really comes down to is that Luke spends most nights at Lorelai's, but still has most of his belongings at his own "home".
"That's not a bad idea," he says. "I'll grab a shower, and we can watch a movie. Or go have dinner. Whatever you want."
"All right. Going out sounds fun. Wear something nice." There's something suspicious about the tone of her voice, but Luke doesn't pursue it.
But of course, he should have, because as he pulls up at Lorelai's house, he sees there are cars parked all up and down the street. He has to park at Babette's house.
What did Lorelai do this time? It's not his birthday or anything.
He opens the front door, is not exactly shocked to see that there is a party going on, in the early stages. Jackson greets him at the door, shakes his hand and says "Congratulations." Luke looks up and sees a printed banner hanging from the ceiling.
It says, "LUKE AND LORELAI."
It's an engagement party. A surprise engagement party? Why didn't Lorelai just tell him?
He has to run a gauntlet of well-wishers, including a very smug Miss Patty, and an already tipsy Babette. Miss Patty makes an off-color joke about her regret at Luke being taken 'off the market'; Kirk shakes his hand, looking stoic. In the kitchen, there is food everywhere; looks like Sookie's been working overtime. And he finds Lorelai there. And Rory. Rory wasn't supposed to be home for another week.
He hugs Rory, and he realizes he has a huge grin on his face, one that he's unable to control. He turns to Lorelai. "Ok," he says. "An engagement party. Fine. But why was it a surprise? Did you think I wouldn't show up or something?"
"Well," answers Rory. "There still is a surprise." And she takes him by the arm and leads him into the living room.
The crowd in the living room cheers when they see him, but Luke only notices one person in particular: Jess.
Jess walks up to him, smirking. "Uncle Luke."
"Jess."
Jess shakes his hand. "Congratulations. I knew you had it in you."
Luke is suddenly overwhelmed, speechless. He realizes he really never thought he'd see Jess again. Much less that he'd come back to help celebrate something like this, for Luke.
"But just so you know," says Jess, eyeing him. "We're not hugging."
They laugh.
Jess continues. "And if you want me to be your best man, you're going to have to spring for another plane ticket. I blew all my savings on this one."
Best man? Luke hasn't even gotten that far in his thinking. But he's going to need one, isn't he? And who else, exactly, does he have to ask?
As Luke stands there, shaking his head, Jess says to Rory, "Uh oh. I think we may have overwhelmed him." Then to Luke: "It's ok, Uncle Luke. I'll get you a beer."
Luke nods. "That's probably a real good idea."
He feels a hand on his shoulder, turns and sees Lorelai. She hugs him, and whispers in his ear, "I love you. But I have to tell you, my parents are going to be here."
Luke looks desperately towards the kitchen. "Jess?" he calls. "Make that tequila."
***
Richard and Emily do arrive, in fact, shortly thereafter. Luke's done his time at the Friday night dinners, and has reached an uneasy equilibrium with the elder Gilmores. Emily always has a smug air, having predicted the relationship years ago. Richard seems to allow Luke, a self-made businessman, a certain grudging respect.
Emily is carrying an elaborately wrapped gift box, which she hands to Lorelai.
"Emily. Richard." Luke shakes Richard's hand.
"Hello, Luke," says Emily. "Congratulations. The ring is lovely. But I hope you've taken away Lorelai's car keys until the wedding."
And so the first shot between Emily and Lorelai has been fired, but they just smile at each other.
"Luke," says Richard. "A word, please. In private."
Lorelai is immediately alert. "Whoa there. What's this all about?"
"My prerogative, as father of the bride," says Richard ominously.
"Uh-huh. Look, Dad, it's not like Luke's not expecting a dowry. And, well, you can see we have no room for goats here. Besides, Luke's allergic to livestock. And-"
But Richard smiles easily at his daughter, and takes Luke by the shoulder and steers him towards Rory's old bedroom. And Luke can see part of the reason Lorelai's father drives her crazy; he's so unflappable.
In the empty bedroom, Richard says, "First of all, I want you to know that I approve."
"I'm glad to hear that," says Luke.
"Not that you asked for my approval."
Oh god. He's going to get all old-fashioned. "Yeah, well, it's not as if Lorelai would have let me."
Richard chuckles. "Point taken. And that's what I want to talk to you about. I know exactly how headstrong my daughter is. Nevertheless, I expect you to take care of her, to the best of your abilities. And I know that Lorelai thinks she doesn't need anyone to take care of her. Regardless, I expect this from you."
"I plan on it," says Luke, wondering if Richard realizes that he's been taking care of Lorelai, one way or another, for years.
"You won't always understand her," Richard continues. "Not that it's given to us to understand any woman; but my daughter is more complicated than most."
"Believe me, I know."
Richard nods. "Last but not least, Rory, my granddaughter. Rory has a father already."
"I'm aware of that," says Luke dryly.
"Rory's father, however, has tended to be less than reliable over the years. And in the future, when he lets her down, which he will, I expect you to be there to catch her."
Luke swallows. "I will, sir."
***
When Luke comes out of the bedroom, Lorelai is right there, grabs his arm. "Hey, sweetie - Dad didn't hurt you, did he? Nah, he's old, I'm sure you could take him - come see what Mom gave me." Luke tries to follow all this, and gratefully accepts another tequila shot from Sookie, in passing.
Lorelai holds up a delicate, tastefully understated, jeweled tiara. "It's for the wedding," she says.
"I wore it to my wedding," says Emily, holding a glass of wine, apparently speaking to Miss Patty.
Luke thought brides wore veils. But he doesn't want to say anything.
"Her head is too large for a veil," observes Emily.
Huh? Well, whatever. Lorelai puts on the tiara. She looks like a fairy princess.
His princess.
***
In the end, they all get drunk. Well, Richard and Emily leave early; and Luke sees Jess and Rory leave, hand in hand, "to go for a walk". But the rest of them get pretty smashed.
Luke sits on the couch, sinking drunkenly into the cushions; Lorelai sits on his lap, an arm slung around Luke's shoulders, and explains to everyone that technically she was the one to propose first.
"Doesn't count," slurs Luke. "I had a ring. I win."
But Lorelai isn't having any of it. "C'mon, sweetie. You know if I hadn't said something, you would have taken another five years to get around to it."
"Yeah, well, like my old man used to say..."
"I know, I know. You've gotta take whatever you can get."
"Right."
Really, it's not such a terrible philosophy to live by, after all.
***
Continued in epilogue.